Energy Eater
143 – Journey Ahead

With the extra day that we spent in the village, Rex managed to get his subclass. And as we were expecting, it was the builder subclass. He showed it and the abilities he got to us. And I had to admit that it was something that fit the Rodenti very well. For starters, there was this {Building} skill that would allow him to not just make houses or other structures but make them in a way that would let the other stone constructs he created be sturdier.

In addition, the second skill was the most interesting one. It allowed him, after having created the building, to give it one extra benefit. That could take the form of a structure that couldn't be seen by Eaters. And the very idea that we could have a place that was safe from Eaters was wild. It was the type of thing that I never imagined being possible. But apparently, all it took was a tier two skill to make it a reality. Which, in a sense, wasn't something easy.

This pretty much meant that now we had ways of sleeping in a safe location every night. Without having to worry too much about the presence of Eaters. Even if the skill was saying that it could protect us from those creatures, none of us really had any illusion that it would be completely impossible for a monster to come after us. We all understood how the System worked and the fact that it was more likely than not that Eaters or other creatures with the ability to ignore those effects were a thing. Even then, it was something that we couldn't help but be thankful for.

Another thing I had to appreciate was the fact that we truly only stayed in the village for one extra day. Astrid was still trying to figure out ways to gain her subclass as something related to making clothes, and Michael continued to work on the various weapons that he was making. As a matter of fact, after we left the village, he started preparing some arrows.

Despite the name of his new class, he was still the Improvised Archer, and prepping those random pieces of wood and stone that he found into more proper projectiles seemed to be helping him understand the skills a bit better. One of his skills, which was supposed to create projectiles by itself, even seemed to be benefiting from his attempts. It quickly became clear that each arrow created by the skill seemed to be getting a little bit better than the previous one. And he was doing that mere minutes after we left the village. Before we even truly figured out where we were going to.

"Okay, so are we going to find your family now, Rex?" I asked.

The Rodenti paused before shaking his head, "Think not. Still need more help. Still need army."

"So do you know where we might find one? An army doesn't seem to be the kind of thing that is just out there in a random place," Michael asked while whittling a piece of wood.

Rex nodded. "Yes. Know of place. Place with many Rodenti. South. Actually, South and opposite side of coast."

"So, southeast?" I asked for confirmation.

"Yes, yes. Southeast," Rex smiled.

Hearing that, Astrid turned to me. "You okay?"

I paused for a moment, thinking about the question, but eventually nodded. "Yeah. I'm not going to say I wouldn't prefer to go check on my grandpa first, but it's not like we know how long that end of the world scenario will take. The sooner we get some information, the better. So if we stop by an area close to where he's supposed to be, then I'm going to ask to drop by. But if not, we should focus on the task at hand."

Another thing that I didn't say to them was the fact that I was pretty sure Pops was going to survive no matter what. The man was old, but he was sturdy. And stubborn to boot. Not to mention that he also had a System. I wouldn't be surprised if, by the time I saw him again, he was also a tier two already. Maybe even Tier 3 depending on how long it took me to get to him. All I could really hope was that he didn't reach a higher level than I did. Because if he did, that would suck for my self-esteem.

"You never told us, Rex, what is it like where you live?" Riley asked as we continued our journey, starting to go farther away from the ocean.

"Beautiful. Very warm. Don't worry about cold. Place filled with friends and love."

"I'm guessing Rixnala is one of the parts that are not included on that," Michael suggested.

Rex just gave a nod in response. He didn't seem to want to continue that conversation. Instead, we just kept walking, heading south and to the east.

One thing we made sure to do was to check if we were finding any tracks made by other Rodenti. Not just to confirm that we weren't going in the same direction as Rixnala but also to see if we could find any other Rodenti villages in the area. If we did, then that could be the army that Rex was looking for. After all, it seemed like he really needed a large number of people in order to attack the nest.

Which honestly still felt a bit strange to me. On one hand, I agreed that the more people we had, the better. But on the other, I had serious doubts that numbers would make any difference. Not that the best idea was to have a small group infiltrating the nest, but we needed quality, not quantity. Which, in a sense, made Rixnala right what she looked for in her recruitment. Even if the way she was going about it was sketchy at best.

For the next 2 days, we continued heading deeper into the continent, leaving the ocean behind and finding a couple of strange creatures to fight. Some looked to be wolves or deer who were aggressive for some reason, but we also found other versions of giant rats that Rex destroyed without a second thought. It seemed that even though they were technically from the same species, the Rodenti didn't really consider rats to be their kin.

Even if they kept some rats as pets. Maybe it was similar to how humans in the old world would keep monkeys or chimpanzees as pets. Or maybe their evolution was detached enough to stop him from having any strange feelings towards rodents.

And just as we expected, sleeping became much more comfortable thanks to Rex's help. He could create a hut almost anywhere and even use a skill on it that allowed us to make a fire inside without having to worry about Eaters. That simple act changed our outlook on camping entirely. We were still taking turns to keep an eye out for any problems, but the fact that we had this extra layer of protection made it so much more relaxing.

When it was my turn to stay up, Michael didn't need to wake me up as the System was kind enough to do so for me. I quickly stepped outside as I was going to take the last shift before we started moving again and told Michael he could finish sleeping.

He just nodded with a smile, but before he went to his side of the hut, the part of the Belt of Frost that Astrid was letting him use as a bed, he walked over to me and asked, "Hey, you were a teacher before, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I used to teach children, but yeah."

"Can you teach me something?" He asked.

"Anything at all, or do you have something in mind?" I said with a mild laugh.

"I have something in mind," he replied. His cheeks were getting red, and so were his ears. Whatever he was about to ask me was clearly something that he found somewhat uncomfortable.

"Teach me how to read? I realize that all of you can read, and I mean even Rex can do that. I feel like that's something I should learn."

"Want me to keep a secret from everybody else, or are you just asking me now because you had this chance?"

"I feel like they're going to tease me a bit, and I'm not in the mood for that."

I nodded. "Yeah. I understand it. Do you want to start now or?"

"If you don't mind, I know you have to keep a lookout, but since both of us are going to be awake, I think we can handle it."

I looked around, and I had to agree. Two people would be able to notice anything approaching better than one, even if the two were loosely distracted.

"Okay. Let's see if we can find a flat rock or piece of wood so we can carve you the alphabet. But first,"

I quickly wrote down Michael in the dirt below and asked if he understood what that was. The man shook his head, and we went over the letters that spelled out his name. And then we spent a couple of hours working on that while also making sure not to completely forget about our jobs before the Archer felt a bit tired and decided to sleep.

I took advantage of that moment and found a large piece of wood that was big enough for me to write the entire alphabet. On the other side, I also added all five of our names so Michael could have it. Thanks to {Compression}, the piece of wood became pocket size, and while it was a bit on the heavier side, it shouldn't be a problem for him to carry around. And thanks to the effects of my skill, it should be sturdy enough so that it wouldn't break that easily.

Not long after I had finished my work, people started waking up, and we continued traveling. Here, we were not strictly following the roads as on certain occasions Rex would notice some tracks made by other Rodenti. We left the highways to follow them in hopes of finding a village. But just as we climbed up a hill, we found something else. Down below was a city. Or the ruins of a city. And it seemed to be a place of a very big battle in the old world.

We could see that the entire place had turned to rubble. There were craters almost everywhere and large scratch marks in the ground, likely caused by giant Eaters during the war in the old world. But despite all that destruction, all of that pain and suffering that this battle seemed to have caused, there was still one house near the center of this that stood tall.

Even from this distance, I could tell that the house was absolutely massive. Walls of white with a few spots of yellow here and there were standing strong, the surrounding area seemingly undisturbed by whatever caused the rest of the city to become rubble. We all glanced at each other before looking back at this one single house. Everybody was clearly confused about its existence, but then again, there was only one thing to do here.

"Should we head down?" Michael asked.

"Yes! House might be made by Rodenti!" Rex replied excitedly.

"I don't think so," I said, turning to Rex and getting a frown from our smallest companion.

"Why not?"

I stopped for a moment, trying to put it to him in a way that wouldn't hurt Rex. After all, this structure was much more modern than everything I had seen the Rodenti make so far. But I couldn't exactly tell him that I was saying those words because I thought that the houses of his people, were rudimentary. Instead I said the one thing I thought he would agree with.

"Because it's outside. You all prefer to be underground, don't you?"

Rex stared at me, then looked back at the house, thinking really hard about what I just said before nodding. "Yes, yes, good point. Not for them. But are we going there?"

Not wanting to go to our next destination without everybody else's input. I said, "I am curious about what's going on down there," Riley said. Astrid just nodded, and Michael shrugged.

"Let's just go then," the Silken Archer said, and we started climbing down the hill into this ruined city. Aiming to reach this one house that seemed to survive even the most harrowing of wars.